Free Republic

I believe that the Biden Administration, most Democrats, and a good number of so-called Republicans are dedicated to the destruction of the traditional USA by various means: economic, political, cultural, immigration, and military. This essay addresses that last listed avenue of destruction—the military. Napoleon is often quoted as saying that “An army marches on its stomach,” meaning that no Army can move without food. I would submit that, today, in addition to food, an Army cannot march without fossil fuels. The complicated logistics of modern life and warfare require reliable, consistent, and readily available fuels. The reduction in our military...

FORT CAMPBELL, KY – Hundreds of Screaming Eagle soldiers departed today from Campbell Army Airfield on a nine-month deployment to Europe, to assure NATO allies and deter Russian aggression in the region.

New recruits are no longer required to have a high school diploma or General Educational Development (GED) certificate to join the U.S. Army if they’re willing to enlist before the end of the 2022 fiscal year, the service announced Thursday. Military.com first reported the Army announcement on Friday, which said individuals can enlist in the service without the previously required proof of high-school level education if they’re willing to ship to basic training before the end of the fiscal year on Oct. 1. Prospective recruits must still be at least 18 years, qualify for a job in the active-duty Army...

Roughly 60,000 Army Reserve and National Guard soldiers remain unvaccinated against the coronavirus a week before the service’s deadline, according to Army data, highlighting the persistent struggle for commanders to bring soldiers under compliance. Soldiers in the Army Reserve and Army National Guard were given until this coming Thursday to receive the vaccine, seek an exemption or face punishment, including removal from the service. The deadline, set last year, is about seven months longer than any other service member in the U.S. military, allowing commanders extra time to ensure their soldiers followed an order from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Army...

“Victory starts here!,” according to the U.S. Army. ...

An active-duty senior Army official told The Defender, on condition of anonymity, the U.S. Army is strongly considering pushing the June 30 deadline for compliance with the military’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate far into the future — but will not announce the date change until closer to, or even after, the upcoming deadline.

The vehicles are those of Fort Hood’s 13th Expeditionary Sustainment Command, which issued a brief statement saying the action “signals a switch in readiness from fighting in arid places like the Middle East to fighting in more verdant regions.” Verdant as in green, with grass or other rich vegetation. Though the Army didn’t elaborate, that could be islands in the Pacific or forests in Europe. The Marines have recently conducted field training in Norway.

The US Army has introduced Critical Race Theory to West Point cadets, new documents show, according to Fox News Digital. The “woke” lessons ask cadets about whiteness while encouraging them to apply Critical Race Theory to their answers, according to documents obtained by Judicial Watch and given to Fox News. The more than 600 documents were only handed over to Judicial Watch after the conservative organization sued the Department of Defense. “Our military is under attack – from within,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a press release. “These documents show racist, anti-American CRT propaganda is being used to...

Perhaps foreseeing a Russian win or stalemate in Ukraine, some foreign policy experts urge that it cede territory. French President Emmanuel Macron calls for not “humiliating” Russia. These entreaties could miss the mark. The battlefield is fluid and could turn for or against Ukraine. The West should prudently prepare for Ukrainian success as well as a less favorable outcome. A few weeks ago, euphoria reigned when Ukrainian forces pushed back Russian attempts to seize Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa — Ukraine’s three largest cities. Now, pessimism is ascendant. President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks of “very fierce” fighting in eastern Ukraine and high...

The commanding general of the 10th Mountain Division wants late-night texts from leaders to subordinates to stop. “The overuse and reliance on cell phones causes unforeseen stress on soldiers and families,” reads a policy letter recently shared on Twitter by Gen. Milford H. Beagle Jr., who said it was the official cell phone policy for the division and was designed to “prevent soldiers from being led by text.” “Change is a constant around us, but not all change needs to be communicated via text, chat groups, or other messaging applications,” Beagle wrote in the letter he posted Tuesday. “The constant...

A U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq is now volunteering in Ukraine’s fight against Russia, training troops before they head to the front lines in defense of their country."These are ordinary civilians who, 1776 style, have decided to answer their nation’s call to duty," the Army veteran, who talked to Fox News on condition of anonymity due to concerns for his safety, saidBut now the American finds himself close to the front lines of a different war, choosing to voluntarily travel to Ukraine to train their forces before potentially joining them on the front lines of the war against...

Harold Billow, 99, the last known survivor of a World War II POW massacre during the Battle of the Bulge, will be laid to rest Thursday in Pennsylvania. Billow, who died May 17, was attached to the Army’s 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion when his unit surrendered and he was taken prisoner by Waffen SS soldiers as German forces launched an offensive in Belgium to try to change the war’s tide in December 1944. According to various accounts, the Germans opened fire on the unarmed prisoners in a field, killing more than 80 in what came to be known as...

KILLEEN, Texas -- Fort Hood likely will be renamed Fort Cavazos after a blue-ribbon commission recommended that the Confederate-named Army base receive a new name along with eight other military bases nationwide.The Naming Commission, which was created by Congress and is responsible for recommending new names or removal of names and symbols that commemorate Confederate figures within the Department of Defense, called for Fort Hood to be named after Gen. Richard Cavazos, a native Texan and the Army's first Hispanic four-star general.The Army's largest active-duty armored post, with about 40,000 soldiers, was named after Gen. John Bell Hood, who led...

LONDON (Reuters) -In a sign of Russia's urgent need to bolster its war effort in Ukraine, parliament said on Friday it would consider a bill to allow Russians over 40 and foreigners over 30 to sign up for the military. The website of the State Duma, parliament's lower house, said the move would enable the military to utilise the skills of older professionals. "For the use of high-precision weapons, the operation of weapons and military equipment, highly professional specialists are needed. Experience shows that they become such by the age of 40–45," it said. Currently, only Russians aged 18-40 and...

The Taliban’s defense ministry on Sunday claimed the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” has amassed a standing army of over 130,000 troops with hopes to bring that number up to 150,000. Meanwhile, the Afghan economy is a wreck, poverty is rampant, and starvation is kept at bay only through massive international humanitarian efforts. “More than 130,000 people have been registered and this process will continue. With the completion of registration, the Afghans will see an independent, well-formed and committed military who will provide security and defend the Afghan soil and borders,” Defense Ministry spokesman Inayatullah Khwarazami boasted to Afghanistan’s independent Tolo...

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Rambo (First Blood) one of the greatest action adventure movies of all time, but more than that, the quintessential film about PTSD and its traumatic effects on combat veterans. The film stars Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo, Brian Dennehy as Sheriff Will Teasle and Richard Crenna as Colonel Sam Trautman. It was directed by Ted Kotcheff and the screenplay was written by Michael Kozoll & William Sackheim and Sylvester Stallone. With the Ghosts of Vietnam haunting America in 1982, the film opens with John Rambo walking down a lonely road in the Pacific...

An Army officer and former health official was convicted last week of flouting Covid-19 rules in the first-known court martial of its type, officials said. The officer, 1st Lt. Mark Bradshaw, who had served as an Army Public Health Center headquarter's company commander at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, was convicted in military court April 29 of refusing an order to telework and reporting to his office without submitting to a Covid-19 test or otherwise furnishing a negative test result, according to the Army Times.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville admitted Thursday during a Senate hearing that the Army’s recruiting difficulties and its plan to reduce numbers accordingly would leave the force too small. The Army is reducing its total active-duty force numbers over the next several years due to recruiting difficulties — an unprecedented step, according to some military experts. The Army announced in March that the end strength, or total number of forces, would go from 485,000 active-duty soldiers currently to 476,000 in fiscal year 2022, which ends in September, and further down to 473,000 in fiscal year 2023. It is...

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army will decide whether it will further pursue a hybrid version of the Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle in fiscal 2023, according to budget justification documents. The service has been working to develop a hybrid Bradley for several years and will wrap up the process through a series of tests in FY22. The funding for hybrid Bradley prototyping is not broken out of a combat vehicle prototyping line item of $164 million in FY22, according to the documents. The funding includes other efforts to examine advanced combat vehicle concepts, next-generation fire control technologies, XM913 chain gun development...

For once, this is not a joke: Who is buried in Grant’s tomb? A general who doesn’t have the Army’s highest rank. Not yet, anyway. Fans of Ulysses S. Grant are campaigning for a promotion that would elevate Grant to a rank held by only two other former generals, George Washington and the World War I hero John J. Pershing — general of the armies of the United States, above even five-star generals.